Information Society Watch

2004, Romeo Bertolini, International Food Policy Research Institute

This brief discusses how Information and Communication Technologies can contribute to overcoming the challenges Africa faces in meeting the first Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people suffering from malnutrition and hunger by 2015. It describes the current situation of ICTs in Africa and the opportunities created by them. There are many obstacles to ICT use in developing countries, including lack of access to infrastructure, high costs, and a need for funding and innovation. Internet projects are focused on bandwidth availability and connectivity, with positive results for urban elites, but these internet and telecentre projects have mostly failed for less privileged groups. However, the rapid growth of telephony and related retailing services in Africa has shown the possible impact of these technologies. ICTs can improve efficiency and integration of agriculture systems by providing new channels of communication, reducing transaction costs, and giving access to information on prices, transportation, production technologies and nutrition.

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